43 43: Building Up
Many people are often surprised by how quickly time flies when you get into a regular routine.
Seija was re-discovering this fact for herself now that she and her comrades had actual jobs working with the Hidden Village of Amegakure, as well as taking personal requests from villages who had heard from them as the name of 'Akatsuki' began to spread. She hadn't felt this feeling since her old days as a dojo assistant in her past life.
In what felt like mere days, three weeks passed since the existence of Reincarnators was revealed to the wider world. Thus far, the cautious individuals of Sub-Group A1 were still unaffected by Reincarnator hunts. They had indeed noticed some small changes around their Hidden Villages; Bingo Books being updated to include loose descriptions of known Reincarnators, Jonin senseis advising their Genin students to be on the lookout for the signs that someone might be a Reincarnator, that sort of thing.
The higher-ups were being noticeably coy about what Reincarnators actually are, or why they are dangerous. It seemed to Seija that the Kages didn't want to let slip about the whole 'seeing the future' thing to anyone lower than Jonin-rank.
There was still an interesting split across the different nations about how they wanted to handle the existence of these children from other worlds with powerful, unique abilities and seemingly prophetic knowledge of the future, though. Iwagakure saw them as a threat, with the Tsuchikage paying out the ass for bounty hunters like Kakuzu to track down and kill any Reincarnators they could find.
Kumogakure, which was secretly allying themselves with Iwagakure in preparation for the coming war, reacted similarly, only keeping one Reincarnator, Number #58: Fuyuhiko, alive in jail thanks to his Storm Release Kekkei Genkai being highly important to their Village's culture.
Sunagakure and Kirigakure both had very few Reincarnators within their territories, and neither of them could really spend the manpower to actively search for them and hunt them down. If it weren't for the uncomfortable climates in both the Land of Wind and the Land of Water, these territories would likely have become popular hiding spots for Reincarnated fugitives.
And of course, Konohagakure, the last of the Five Great Villages, and home of every goodie-two-shoes character in the series predictably reacted with the least open hostility. They mostly left the Reincarnators alone, but Senku and Kei noted that the Village's shinobi have been ordered to capture any Reincarnators they do find, alive. It seemed to the Reincarnators that Konoha sought to recruit them and use their knowledge - as well as their power to 'produce' magical objects, like Potions - to benefit the Village as a whole.
As such, the Land of Fire became something of a popular hiding spot to the fugitives of Sub-Group B1. Yosuke and Reincarnator #6 - who revealed her name as Rumi - founded their organisation in the Land of Fire's territory as well. Well, 'founded' might be a bit of a strong word since the whole faction right now was just Yosuke, Rumi, and Yosuke's summon, Killua, but they still put out an open invitation for almost any Reincarnator to join their group:
'The Reincarnated Union.'
The name was a little on the nose in Seija's opinion, but it got the job done. It was, very literally, a union of Reincarnators who wanted to create a powerful organisation much like the future Akatsuki, and then push for equal rights for all Reincarnators once they were too strong for any Village to risk hunting them down.
Equal rights for everyone except Mishima, of course. Nobody cared what happened to him.
There wasn't much else to talk about regarding the safety of the Reincarnators. After the initial massacre where most of Sub-Group B1 was hunted down, the remaining members got their act together and were now successfully keeping a low profile.
Seija herself was fine too, of course. Amegakure was only a minor nation. It didn't have the time, money, or personnel to waste looking for some weird kids from another world. To the people of the Land of Rain, it was mostly just a neat thing to gossip about over dinner and then forget about five minutes later. Weirder things have happened in the shinobi world.
- - -
Over the weeks that passed there was only one big change for the Akatsuki.
"So uh... Where are you guys going to stay, exactly?" Yahiko asked, puzzlement etched across his expression.
"Well... We were kind of hoping you would have somewhere for us to stay..." The leader of the bandit group said. This was the very same group that Yahiko and Konan had won over during their first mission, and they'd asked if they could join the Akatsuki as official members. Konan had asked them why they didn't just join the Amegakure shinobi forces, but apparently the bandits had worked for Hanzo the Salamander previously, and they had several issues with how he ran the country, so they refused to work for him any more.
The leader of the bandits was actually a boy not even any older than the Akatsuki founders themselves. Seija didn't remember him clearly, but she could've sworn that she recognised his distinctive facial tattoos from somewhere, so he must have been a named character.
Konan facepalmed at the young bandit's statement.
"Kyusuke, we're a team of Genin. Powerful Genin, sure, but we don't exactly have a huge base of operations. We have one small residence where the four of us live, and that's it. We haven't had the time to scout out a good location for a hideout yet, let alone build one. For now, if you really want somewhere to stay and you don't mind roughing it in tents like you were before..."
Konan took a second to pull a map out of her pouch and point to a specific location, "You can stay there, next to that large concrete dam. There is a cave system there that's safe from the rain, and it's more than spacious enough for your group. We'll come and find you in a few days, and we'll show you how to find our cabin. You'll need to either cross or go around the entire lake to meet with us, but it'll have to do until we can come up with a better communication method."
'So his name is Kyusuke? Again, sounds familiar... I think he would go on to become a pretty reliable member of the Akatsuki? I'd better get to know him, if that's the case.' Seija mentally noted as she spectated the conversation.
Kyusuke took out his own map and marked the location for himself, before calling out to his gang and leading them away towards the lake to the south.
Yahiko breathed a sigh of relief.
"Phew. I really didn't think they'd actually ask to join. Like I know I made an absolutely killer speech, but damn! I must really be awesome to win them over so easily." He preened on his achievement as he spoke.
Seija rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, Yahiko. Now, we're going to have to make plans to train that lot, you know. Most of them were only slightly better than normal bandits despite many of them previously being Genin working for Amegakure. Now that we have them, we're not just a shinobi team, we're a whole organisation. We might even need uniforms for all of us too. I hope you and Konan have planned for this."
It was true, now that they were a real organisation they may as well look the part. Yahiko and Konan were the effective leaders of the Akatsuki, so it was up to them to set everything straight. Konan in particular was the brains of the operation, as neither Seija, Nagato, or Yahiko were really all that good at planning. Fortunately the work wouldn't be entirely on her, though.
That was the benefit of being a larger organisation now. Kyusuke seemed to have a good head on his shoulders, so either him, or one of the other former bandits could easily be enlisted to help her.
Slowly but surely, the Akatsuki was taking shape. For Seija's part, she and the other three founders elected to bring a few of their new subordinates with them on their easier missions, to get a feel for how skilled they could be on a proper mission. That would mostly be Seija's job, in fact, since field work was her specialty. She couldn't really do much good just sitting around at home, so they decided that she would be taking Kyusuke himself, and a few of his better ex-bandits on the Akatsuki's next mission.
They'd received word that another village had suffered a bandit attack, courtesy of Kumogakure, and these new bandits weren't as merciful as the previous, burning down buildings (as well as you could in the Land of Rain, at least) killing people, the works...
- - -
The next day, Seija met up with Kyusuke and his two best shinobi, the first being a tall and imposing man named Daibutsu, and another child like Kyusuke himself, Kie. Yahiko had vouched for the character of the former bandits but Seija would be keeping a close eye on them during this operation.
Firstly though, she'd asked them what their specialties were.
Kyusuke caught her interest immediately when he revealed the existence of his Kekkei Genkai. A variant of Lava Style that allowed him to produce a kind of Quicklime sludge that would encase an opponent and then harden into solid stone, trapping the foe on the spot.
Seija wasn't planning to copy his Lava Style of course, but having the opportunity to study the chakra network of a fellow Kekkei Genkai user would always be useful for her research.
Daibutsu and Kie weren't anywhere near as interesting, but they were apparently quite capable by Genin standards. Daibutsu could use Water Style, and he wielded a large club as his weapon of choice, fitting his tall, muscular stature. Kie was a bit more unique, as one of his arms was actually crippled, and he kept it in a sling at all times. He specialised in techniques that didn't require many hand signs because of this, primarily Fuinjutsu, since he could easily draw Seals with just one hand and activate them just as well.
Kie and Daibutsu worked well together, since Kie struggled to fight in close quarters, while Daibutsu excelled in it. Kyusuke saw the two of them as his left and right-hand men before they joined the Akatsuki, so Seija had high hopes for their performance in combat.
And there would indeed be combat, as she could see the smoke from the village even from the forest they were running through.
"We're here." She told them, "You three won't be holding back, today. I need to see how you can deal with an extermination mission. There won't be any mercy for these bandits like there was for your group. I'll perform the preliminary scout to see what kind of strength levels we're dealing with here, and then you can head on into the village and start dealing with them."
Once they reached the hill in front of them, overlooking the smouldering village that had been taken over by the bandits, Seija crouched down and spread her senses to their maximum strength, activating her Byaku-Sharingan under her mask.
"No civilians. Eighteen weak bandits. Three Genin-level bandits. And..." She narrowed her eyes, "One Chunin at the very back. This clearly isn't a normal bandit attack, then. Can I trust you guys to deal with the weak bandits and Genin?"
They nodded stoically in confirmation.
"Alright. The Chunin is in the largest house at the rear of the village, presumably the village chief's or mayor's residence. I will deal with him personally. And I'll be leaving a shadow clone to watch your performance, so it'll see everything even when I'm busy fighting. Are you ready?"
"""Ready.""" They all answered.
Seija smiled. She was liking the competence of these guys already.
"Then get moving!"
A shadow clone *poofed* into existence and followed the three as they headed down to the village's front gates. Meanwhile, she cranked up her speed and dashed around the village's wall and hopped straight over it to reach the biggest house as fast as possible.
- - -
Seija waited in the shadows behind the building as the bandits began to panic. In the distance, she could sense a burst of fairly strong Fire and Earth chakra that she figured must've been Kyusuke's Lava Style. She nodded to herself.
'Good, looks like they are taking this as seriously as they should, then.'
A moment later, she spotted her target through the walls, who was rushing down the stairs to the ground floor of the building in front of her, presumably after hearing the shouting of his subordinates. She took a running start and smashed straight through the wall of the building, causing the man to notice her and quickly wheel around to block her flying kick.
*Slam*
"Ugh." The man groaned slightly, but he was wearing an armored bracer that protected his arm from being instantly broken as his feet skidded backwards from the blow.
He growled at the sudden intruder.
"Amegakure brats, huh? Fucking knew the operation was compromised, but did they listen? No!" He muttered angrily to himself as he adjusted his stance and glared at Seija.
"You're in over your head kid. Hold still and this'll be quick." He suddenly shot forwards with speed that Seija found impressive for a Chunin and she quickly ducked under a sharp punch he threw at her. The air seemed to spark and crackle around his fist, and Seija identified that he must be cladding his fists with Lightning chakra.
She responded with a punch of her own which he once again blocked with his bracer. She had to quickly leap back as he lashed out with a kick, so she took the chance to whip a kunai out of her pouch and throw it at him, grazing his shoulder as he just barely avoided it.
They exchanged a handful of blows as Seija found that he matched her in skill quite well. But to her that meant that he must have specialised in Taijutsu and wouldn't be backing off any time soon to give her a chance to finish this faster with a longer range Ninjutsu.
'I've underestimated him a tad... Very well, then.'
She switched tactics and immediately shoved her way as close into his personal space as she could get. He tried to block her with his arms, expecting another punch, but instead she quickly grabbed his wrists, noticing that the Lightning didn't extend down that far and threw them apart to the sides, exposing his torso.
Normally from a position so close to his body she wouldn't be able to throw a proper punch at him, let alone get through his shinobi flak-vest, which was coloured in the trademark white of Kumogakure.
Fortunately for Seija, she wasn't going for a normal punch. Within the confines of this building, nobody else would be watching, and thus she could afford to dip into her more private techniques.
She wasn't sure she wanted to risk getting a Steel hand close to a guy who used Lightning, as she wasn't yet sure how the energy would flow through the limb, so she went with her other close-quarters option.
In moments, her Sharingan whirled and she cycled through a quick series of hand signs faster than he could move his arms even an inch, and then she struck out with her right fist.
As her fist jabbed forwards towards her opponent's chest, he detected the faint traces of chakra on the tips of her knuckles and tried to force as much energy into his legs to escape as he could. He wasn't a sensor-nin, but that attack gave him a bad feeling that made him desperate to get away. Too bad being desperate can't always save you.
She didn't call out the name of her attack, but he could tell how screwed he was. He barely even managed a small hop before her attack reached his chest.
[Explosion Style: Landmine Fist]
*Kaboom*
A flash of light detonated at the tip of her punch, blasting a hole through his armor and smashing him through the wall of the building, sending him outside into the rain.
Seija felt that he had resisted the strike admirably and had managed to survive the blast, his armor getting shredded but blocking most of the damage in the process.
But now she had claimed the distance to use a ranged Ninjutsu, comboing her strike straight into a [Wind Style: Great Breakthrough].
As the man struggled to his feet he was struck by a wall of violent wind that smashed him through another neighboring building, and this time, Seija could tell he was down for the count.
Most of his ribs and one of his arms were broken, and he was totally knocked out cold. With the Chunin out of the picture, and Seija feeling a little prideful that she'd managed that so well while she was still technically only a Genin, she surveyed the battlefield with her Dojutsu and watched with satisfaction as the three other Genin she had brought with her cleaned up the battlefield well in her absence. Daibutsu appeared to have taken a small hit to one of his arms, but he was a tough guy and the injury clearly wasn't hindering him at all.
All in all, a good show from everybody.
As Seija and the three met up by the body of the defeated Chunin - making sure to finish him off first, of course - she dismissed her clone and reviewed their performance.
"Hm... a great showing overall, you three!" She watched their shoulders relax slightly at her announcement. "You performed well in your first mission, and only one of you took an injury. I'll write up a more detailed report for Yahiko later. For now, come here, Daibutsu, I'll heal you and then we can get ready... to..."
Her voice trailed off as the hair on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. Something just passed through the edge of her passive sensory range.
Her head whipped around and scanned the entire landscape. The village was situated in a small valley, surrounded by hills on all sides. And from one of those hills-
*Zap*
"Scatter! NOW!" She shouted to her Genin, who startled for a moment before kicking off the ground in the opposite direction from where she was facing, while she wove a set of hand signs as fast as she could.
She launched a second Great Breakthrough just in time to collide with a searing blade of raw thunder that streaked through the air towards their group.
*Krackoom*
The thunderous strike was just barely blocked by the wind that held the elemental advantage, and Seija focussed harder on her senses as she tried to track the assailant's location. But she found nothing, no matter how hard she searched. She could see her three Genin split up and retreat in the vague direction they originally came from, though.
'Shit... SHIT! Where the hell did that come from?! Are they going to target me next or will they target one of the others? Fuuuuuckk...' Seija was badly caught off guard by the sudden attack. She wasn't worried for herself just yet, but the three Genin she'd brought with her would probably die instantly if hit by an attack like that.
There was one thing Seija was sure about:
That attack was far, far too strong to have come from a Chunin or Genin. Whoever it was that was stalking them, Seija began to sweat slightly as she realised...
They had to be at least a Jonin-level enemy.
